Hyokkori Hyoutan-jima (partially found Toei anime film based on Japanese puppet show; 1967)

Flyer for the film, credits to Twitter user @NelsonWolfe5

Status: Partially Found

Hyokkori Hyoutan-jima (ひょっこりひょうたん島, Hyokkori Gourd Island, The Madcap Island) is an anime film made by Toei Animation and premiered theatrically on July 7th, 1967^[1]. The film is based on the 60s puppet show of the same name which aired from 1964 - 1969 and was very popular then^[2]. The movie is an animated and abridged version of the Burdokia arc that was episode 51 to episode 130 of the puppet series. The film reportedly has a runtime of 61 minutes.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

Plot

The film's plot is known to be about the people of a drifting island called "Gourd Island", an island in the ocean that has no stable place and always drifts around whenever the ocean and waves are. After the residents of Gourd Island stumbled and crash into the "Kingdom of Burdokia", a kingdom full of dogs that despises humans, the kingdom engages war with the residents of Gourd Island. Gourd Island, with the residents in panic, the self-proclaimed leader known as Don Gobacho tried and talked with the leader of the Burdokia kingdom, but said talk went terribly as Don Gobacho was caught by Secretary Pitts of the Kingdom of Burdokia^[6].

With the dogs already having all their weapons, cannons, and tanks on Gourd Island, the residents of Gourd Island disguised themselves as horses to infiltrate the dog kingdom and retrieve Don Gobacho. The retrieval was successful and the citizens of Gourd Island started fighting back against the dogs. The dogs eventually surrendered after they realized they couldn't stand an inch against the residents, but their leader, the Secretary of Defense Pitts, won't accept the eventual surrender and would fight back by himself on a one-on-one duel with Machine Gun Dandy. Machine Gun Dandy ends up winning the duel and Burdokia becomes a country where dogs and humans can live peacefully.^[6].

Staff

The film was directed by Taiji Yabushita^[3]^[4], with the original story for the film and screenplay by Hisashi Inoue and Morihisa Yamamoto^[3]^[4].

Cast

Arihiro Fujimura as Don Gabacho^[5]
Toshie Kusunoki as Sunday-sensei^[5]
Chinatsu Nakayama as Hiroshi^[5]^[3]
Eiko Masuyama as Teke^[5]
Junpei Takiguchi as Lion^[5]
Kazuo Kumakura as Torahige^[5]^[3]
Kyoko Emi as Chappi^[5]
Makiko Ito as Dump^[5]
Toshiko Fujita as Kid Boya^[5]
Yui Yamazaki Marshal as Secretary of Defense Pitts^[4]
Kyoji as Machine Gun Dandy^[4]

Availability

Strangely, the film never received any physical release. According to its Wikipedia page, the studio who made the film, Toei Animation, released a LaserDisc in 1993 containing every trailer for their films that they had made, but doesn't contain the trailer for Hyokkori Hyoutan-jima, though this statement is uncited. The film is considered not much of a "lost" work however as screenshots from the film were used in the follow-up children's picture book about the film released months later, with the same plot as the film. The film also was broadcasted on television on various channels in Japan 20 to 40 years ago but had never been rebroadcast again due to the nature of the film, according to testimonies^[7].

Additionally, there had been reports that the film had resurfaced online^[8]. In one instance, an Ameba blog post from Japan that was posted in 2010 confirms that the film was posted on YouTube once, but said video has and had been unavailable for years, either deleted, private, or terminated.^[9]. A few images from the YouTube upload had mysteriously resurfaced and are still available^[10].

There also have been rare occasions that the film was auctioned on Japanese auction sites^[11]^[12], with the recent one being in mid-2017^[13].

Few footages from the film are available online such as its opening and end credits that were recorded from both its theatrical master tape and TV broadcasts, but the full film hasn't been publicly available. Materials that can be seen online includes resurfaced newspaper advertisements, stills, screenshots, posters, and the like.

Gallery

Screenshots

Redrawn screenshot from the film, used in the follow-up children's book for the film
Another redrawn screenshot from the film, used in the follow-up children's book for the film
Screenshots from the film (1/4)
Screenshots from the film (2/4)
Screenshots from the film (3/4)
Screenshots from the film (4/4)
Credits from the film.
Black and white screenshot from the film.